of the RTOONS

Pinky And The Brain

featured many different segments, only Pinky and the Brain were able to reach such heights of popularity that they got a full-blown spinoff that lasted four seasons. The show took the fun of watching Wile E. Coyote’s fruitless attempts to catch the Roadrunner and evolved it into a bromance between a cockney idiot and a rodent Orson Welles built around plans for world domination. The duo’s constant failures fueled the show’s creativity and the endearing love/hate relationship between the protagonists. The Christmas special is a must, but skip the follow-up season where they live with Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures – GJ

Animaniacs

As Tiny Toon Adventures cast as the so-called future of Looney Toons, Animaniacs ran with the idea of retconning characters into WB’s past, both in the forms of the wacky Warner Siblings and the cranky and weathered Slappy the Squirrel. This witty variety show featured a big cast of characters where some worked better than others, but the main trio stood tall as an energetic and youthful take on what made Bugs Bunny and the Marx Brothers so popular in years past. Not to mention the many musical numbers, which were not only educational and entertaining but also incredibly impressive at times. – GJ

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

A classic for a reason and pretty much the gold standard of superhero cartoons, Batman: The Animated Series surpassed expectations of what an adventure cartoon could be. Each 30-minute episode (and the occasional two-parter) feels like a self-contained movie set in a surprisingly eerie Gotham City. Told in a style that recalls 1940s film noir in both presentation and style, showcasing all of the Dark Knight’s greatest villains, and featuring a stellar voice cast that includes definitive performances of Batman (the late, great Kevin Conroy) and Joker (Mark Hamill). Utterly timeless in its style and appeal, it’s not only a great cartoon but the best Batman adaptation ever made. – Mike

Cecchini

X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Even at the absolute peak of their popularity in the early ’90s, Marvel’s X-Men could be a tough sell for casual fans thanks to their sprawling history and often-confusing continuity. But along came X-Men: The Animated Series to not only distill everything that makes Marvel’s mutants great, down into a more easily digestible form, but to become the definitive version of the team for an entire generation. Lightly serialized, featuring hundreds of mutants throughout its run, and as colorful and weird as its source material, it’s still a compelling watch. – MC

Powerpuff Girls

The Powerpuff Girls was able to lace its cutesy style and adorable flipper-handed heroes with edge, but not to the point that it overshadowed everything. Sure, there are a lot of adult jokes in there, including an episode based around how many times they could yell “Dick!” on a children’s cartoon, but the show remained earnest and kept its heart pure. It was engaging, clever, and not afraid to get twisted at times. Plus, while many superhero cartoons love to play the “villain team-up episode” card, few pulled it off better than the genius of “Meet the Beat-Alls.” – GJ

Gargoyles

Disney simply did not need to go this hard, and yet here we are. A clan of gargoyle protectors from medieval times are cursed to become statues until a scheming billionaire genius frees them in the present. From there, the clan spends their nights fighting their many enemies while protecting the humans that fear them. For two seasons (we don’t talk about Goliath Chronicles), this was must-watch television. So many awesome storylines and badass characters. Where else could you watch King Arthur get in a fistfight with Shakespeare’s Macbeth? – GJ

Recess

Through six seasons of storytelling from 1997 to 2001 (first on ABC and then on UPN), Recess depicts nothing less than the careful self-governance of fourth graders—right down to some deliberate Cold War-era motifs and themes. The show takes place during recess and as soon as the bell rings, the kids organize themselves into a society more complete than boring school could ever fit them into. Six lead characters, led by the plucky T.J. Detweiler, try to have some fun playing kickball, while navigating a hilariously complex class and legal system complete with a sixth-grade king (King Bob). Recess is a show about kids learning to figure out their place in society and the rest of us enduring the same struggle as well. – Alec Bojalad